Drug dealer given five-year sentence — 09.02.2007

One of the last people to be charged in a joint agency investigation called Operation Soho — involving the Crime and Misconduct Commission, the Queensland Police Service and the Australian Crime Commission — was sentenced to five years imprisonment today.

Graeme Anthony Keating, 42, appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court earlier today facing one count of trafficking in cannabis sativa between 1 February 2002 and 5 February 2003, and one count of supplying methylamphetamine between 19 and 23 April 2002.

Mr Keating pleaded guilty to both counts.

Justice Byrne sentenced Mr Keating to a five-year custodial term on each count to be served concurrently and to be suspended after serving 18 months.

More than 100 personnel were involved in Operation Soho which exposed a major drug ring in the 1990s and the first person in Queensland – Charles Edward Cannon – to have over $4 million worth of property restrained under the Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act.